For all the fuss made about the Mike Keenan hiring this summer, is it me or has Keenan become rather tame? We are already through training camp and the first few games of the season and there haven’t been any big blowups. Rather, Keenan seems relaxed as Flames head coach. I mean, he gets his point across, but there hasn’t been any finger-pointing in the media or serious benching. Maybe the NHL is seeing a new version of Mike Keenan? Time will tell if that is the case…
On to the morning papers:
- After the Colorado Avalanche pulled off a 4 goal comeback on the Flames last game, Calgary turned the table by overcoming a 2 goal deficit to come from behind and defeat the Kings 4-3. Daymond Langkow was terrific in leading the Flames back to victory. While the Flames were on the road, the organization installed new, more forgiving, board and glass system.
- Kristian Huselius’s goal with less than ten seconds remaining may have been the back-breaker for the Kings writes Lisa Dillman of the L.A. Times.
- The Oilers recorded their first road win of the season last night on the backs of Raffi Torres and Dwayne Roloson; Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal has the story. It is up to Dennis Grebeshkov to help replace the production of Sheldon Souray who has been lost from the Oilers lineup for at least 3 weeks. The Oilers will be looking to make it two roads wins in a row when they face-off in Calgary tomorrow night.
- Even though the Coyotes lost, they got a good performance from rookie Peter Mueller who scored his first NHL goal last night after being a healthy scratch in the previous game.
- Nikolai Antropov scored the winning goal with less than a minute remaining in regulation as the the Leafs capped a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Panthers last night. The Leafs finally began to show some signs of an identity in last night’s contest opines Damien Cox of the Toronto Star. MLSE President Richard Peddie says it is too early to evaluate John Ferguson Jr. and Paul Maurice with less than ten games having passed.
- The Panthers were furious with a late period no-call writes Steve Gorten of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. After the game Olli Jokinen said that the two referees need to “take a long hard look in the mirror.”
- The Senators had a couple of firsts in last night’s 4-3 victory over the Habs writes Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. Martin Gerber seems to play a lot better when Ray Emery is nowhere to be found. The Senators did what they needed to do to win said coach John Paddock after the game.
- The Habs didn’t play that poorly, they just seemed to make mistakes at the wrong time said coach Guy Carbonneau after the game.
- After watching last night’s 4-1 victory in the Boston home opener, Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe proclaims that the Bruins looked relevant again. The Bruins got a wake-up call from their coach after the second period and turned up their play a notch in the third to seal the victory. Less than three minutes into the home opener, rookie Milan Lucic got into a fight with Nick Tarnasky of the Lightning and more than held his own.
- The Lightning didn’t play badly, they just couldn’t score said coach John Tortorella after the game. In other Bolts’ news, the sale of Lightning is still on track according to commissioner Gary Bettman.
- The Flyers were outshot by a 2-to-1 margin in their home opener but came away with a 4-0 victory over the rival Devils. Martin Biron may be in the right place at the right time writes Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer. As Ed Barkowitz of the Inquirer tells us, Joffrey Lupul has enjoyed his transition to Philadelphia so far this year.
- Coach Brent Sutter knows that Martin Brodeur can play better than he has so far this season but he is not worried about the goaltending position at all writes Rich Chere of the Newark Star-Ledger. As Mark Everson of the NY Post explains, the Devils hadn’t been shutout in Philly since the days of the Spectrum.
- The Thrashers desperately needed to win last night’s game against the rival Rangers writes Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. However, it wasn’t all good news last night as it is believed the team has lost goalie Kari Lehtonen for an extended period of time with a groin injury. Meanwhile, there does not seem to be a lack of candidates for the Thrashers’ head coaching position.
- There were breakdowns all over the ice last night for the Rangers writes the NY Post’s Larry Brooks. This was the Rangers worse defensive game of the season according to John Dellapina of the NY Daily News.
- The Ducks third line has been a model of consistency for Randy Carlyle and Co. writes Curtis Zupke of the Orange County Register.
- The Sabres are going to need to replace Jaroslav Spacek’s production on the blueline while the veteran rearguard recovers from his injury.
- The Canes can maintain their success by continuing to play well in four important areas writes Luke Decock of News Observer. Here’s some news and notes about the Hurricanes.
- Kevyn Adams of the Blackhawks doesn’t take his role as the team’s leader lightly.
- According to Adrian Dater of the Denver Post, Jose Theodore will get the start in goal tonight for the Avalanche over Peter Budaj.
- The Blue Jackets are, like seemingly every American NHL team, having trouble selling tickets. Here are the Jackets’ probable line combinations for tonight’s game.
- Mike Modano is close to becoming the highest scoring US born player ever and is starting to feel the pressure.
- Matt Ellis scored one of the uglier first NHL goals that you will see but it counted as the winner and was enough to lead the Wings to a 4-2 victory over the Sharks.
- The Sharks could not sustain their effort and concentration for a whole 60 minutes and that disappointed coach Ron Wilson. Off the ice, former Blackhawk teammates Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chelios are still as close friends as ever.
- The Wild have the worst powerplay in the NHL but Jacques Lemaire thinks it will take-off once the team stops taking so many penalties.
- The Predators aren’t used to slow starts to the season writes John Glennon of the Tennessean.
- Bill Guerin led the Islanders to a 5-2 victory over the slumping Capitals last night by tallying his ninth career hat trick.
- The Capitals are going to go in and make some changes to their powerplay according to coach Glen Hanlon.
- Maxime Talbot is not just a defensive specialist writes Shelly Anderson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- The Blues penalty killing has been one of the reasons the team is off to a good start writes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- Mason Raymond is racking up the air miles after being sent down to Manitoba earlier this week and being recalled after only one game in the AHL. Meanwhile, coach Alain Vigneault says the Canucks need to be smarter with the puck on their sticks and stop with the unforced turnovers.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.